The Strength Within - Chapters 4-5
by ponsheki
Summary: The Adventures of Brian and the Life of Jem.


Chapter 4  
  
  
Jem was standing in front of five speech judges, it was her turn and she had practiced all night. Her father, Giovanni watched from behind the mirror at the back of the room. She shuffled her cards in the correct order and cleared her voice, trying to calm down. Today was a special day for her, to become a full member of Team Rocket. At the age of nine, you must make a speech based on ideology behind the organization, even for the daughter of the leader. The judges were there to give her a grade out of ten, any less than seven and you would have to start all over again. Her big day had come and Jem took a deep breath before taking a step forward.  
  
"Good evening honorable judges, as you all know Team Rocket centers on the future of pokemon. It is what we do with these creatures that will decide the fate of mankind. Early in the history of Team Rocket, many people regarded us as simple thieves, out for nothing but to steal. This picture of us is wrong! Think about it, when man first saw a pokemon, he regarded it as an enemy. Nothing but another creature to compete with for food and resources. The first trainer appeared as a war lord, noticing that he could train several pigeots to attack his enemies. Those people whom he attacked fought back, with more pokemon that were caught. Soon many people realized how powerful an asset pokemon can be, as did my ancestor, Thomas Wellingham who rounded up pokemon for King John II." Jem said, now engulfed in her speech.  
  
::nodding:: "Very good, go on." remarked the head judge as he made notes.  
  
"But the king was a cruel one, and my distance ancestor turned against him and his empire. The two fought against each other in an all out battle. Arbok was the symbol of my ancestor's flag while fearow was the symbol of the king's. It was bloody, considering it was the last battle involving human weapons before the great proclamation. Eventually, my ancestor lost, causing him to flee for his life away from the charging king. Hiding away in secret caverns, he began to rebuild his army, giving birth to Team Rocket!   
  
::lifting her head:: "Excellent!" claimed the second judge.  
  
"His revenge came one December day when he order a large scale attack. Most people joined his army because of their hate fullness towards the king's high taxes and promise of no blood shed in the next battle. The promise was fulfilled, Thomas with his army hid in the tree on top of a hill while they barked order to their pokemon bellow. John II didn't even know what hit him until his throat was slash by a sandshrew!"  
  
::furiously writing notes:: "Continue, you're doing okay!" expressed the first judge.  
  
"A proclamation was forged from then on by the dead king's allies, they decided that humans could not participate in battle. Unfortunately for Thomas, those same allies spent their lives searching for him and his army. Causing him to be forever in hiding. Frustrated at the situation, he decided to form an organization from his army, he choose the name Team Rocket, due to the famous rockets recently invented in China. He lived his entire life promoting his newly created organization until he died, passing his power to his son, Henry."  
  
::whispering to each other:: "You may continue." noted the fourth judge.  
  
"Henry created Team Rocket's ideology, what we still believe in today. Most notable of all his ideas was the one about human survival. Which is the fact that those that are weak will fall under the increasing power of the strong. That money is the key to our organization and the we get the money by stealing rare pokemon to sell to the rich. ::eyes narrowed:: We MUST steal, for the sake of all human, we take what belongs to US! Those who oppose what we stand for, what we believe in, SHALL not be allowed to stand in OUR way! WE are Team Rocket, our duty is to knock our enemies to the ground!!!  
  
::staring at her:: "Go on....." said the fifth judge.  
  
::face turning red:: "The Elite four has always stood in our way, they are nothing but aging demons that must be vanquished! ::clutching her fist:: They STOPPED my father from coming out from the shadows, after so many years the league still stops at nothing from their GOALS to eliminate our organization!  
  
::drops his pen:: "Hmmm......" the head judge remarked.  
  
"It isn't FAIR, the Elite four must DIE! ::screaming:: THEY CANNOT STAND IN OUR WAY ANYMORE! THE TIME TO MOVE IS NOW!!!  
  
::looking nervously:: "Uh......miss?" a judge questioned concerned.  
  
::screaming at the top of her lungs:: "IT IS MY LIFE THEY ARE MESSING WITH AND THOSE FOOLS SHALL FEEL MY WRATH!!!!!" Jem exclaimed.  
  
Her eyes widen, blood red veins could been distinctly seen. Jem's entire face was now a grayish colour, colour of death. Her mouth opened blood spat out, the judges stood up in shock. Giovanni picked up his phone and contacted security. His paramedics rushed in the room, grabbing her before she fainted. Watching from behind the mirror, he noticed that Jem's arms were shaking uncontrollably, it looked like some kind of seizure.   
  
:standing up:: "Let's get out of here!" the head judge said quickly and quietly to the other judges.  
  
Giovanni rushed out of his room too, his heart pounded against his chest. Having no clue on what happened to this daughter, he decided to make a left turn, to Dr. Lee's office............  
  
-------------------------  
  
Now head back to the present time, Jem is ten year old now. In the deepest part of Mt. Moon, she was pacing in a cavern. With her, a fat man wearing a Team Rocket uniform was sitting on the table right next to her, just finishing a club sandwich. Jem had removed her usually Team Rocket apparel. The handkerchief on her mouth was gone. The mask covering her eye was now gone. From all this revealed a young preteen girl with blackish hair and brown eyes. Getting increasingly frustrated with her pacing, she took a lighter out of her pocket.  
  
"Your father doesn't want you to be smoking you know." The fat man reminded her.  
  
::Argh:: "My father isn't here is he?" Snapped Jem.  
  
"I'll keep silent but stained teeth won't!"  
  
Jem was infuriated now, she threw the cigarette into a corner of the cave. She paced even faster, sweat poured down her face. Tension was creeping into her mind, it crawled everywhere in her body. Her movements were getting more erratic, Jem knew something was wrong.  
  
"I can't fail this time. My father never failed like this before and I won't either!" Jem muttered to no one in particular.  
  
"Don't be so hard on yourself kid, it was only one setback....." Lafete said vainly in an attempt to comfort Jem.  
  
"Yeah, one setback more than my father had!"  
  
"Relax, we came here to secure this cave. Your father has been preparing this take over for a long time."  
  
"What I don't get is why my father wants this cave in the first place!"  
  
"Neither do I but you know whatever he wants, he gets!"  
  
Jem looked at the calendar on the wall. She began smiling first, then threw her head back laughing hysterically. The tension began to seep from her body, she stared mindfully at the calendar. Lafete became relieved, it had hurt him greatly to see Jem in so much pain.  
  
:sigh: "Guess what day tomorrow is?" Quizzed Jem.  
  
"Um........I'm sorry, I have no idea." Lafete replied guiltily.   
  
"Ha! No one does, it's my birthday!"  
  
"Since I won't be here tomorrow, happy birthday in advance."  
  
"Thank you Lafete!"  
  
Jem now set down on a chair thinking.  
  
"Those two are coming down here aren't they?"  
  
"Which two?"  
  
"Those two twerps that beat me last time!"  
  
"Ah........I believe so"  
  
"Then this is our time to move!"  
  
"But the boss said.......sorry, I meant your father said for you to forget about those two."  
  
"Too bad I didn't hear a thing he said...." She smiled wickedly.  
  
------------------  
  
Liz and Brian had just beaten Brock and were heading towards Mt. Moon. They received congratulations from Brock and the TM for teaching bride. Happy, they discuss what was up ahead.  
  
:whining: "I hate caves, couldn't they send us to a mall instead?" snorted Liz.  
  
"What's to hate about caves? They contain tons of pokemon, plus I even heard that clefairys lived there." replied Brian.  
  
"Like you mean like you heard that if you swim from Cinnabar island to Pallet town a thousand times back and forth, you get Lugia?" Liz snickered.  
  
"There are clefairy in Mt. Moon, I'm sure of it!"  
  
"Yeah, whatever you say...."  
  
The entrance guard opened the gate when they showed him their badges. Inside, the cave was poorly lit, the floor was damp and stalagmites hung ever so threatening on the ceiling.  
  
"What did your parents say when you told them that you had beaten Brock?" inquired Liz.  
  
"Well.......what did your mother say?" Brain said, changing the subject.  
  
"You should have seen her, her face was lit up. You know, I never seen her so happy!"  
  
"Good for you.......uh, my parents were busy."  
  
"I know what you mean, my mother works most of the time, I barley even get to see her....."  
  
Brian became uncomfortable with the thought his parents again. That day, it was supposed to bhis/b day! To think father ruined all by not showing up, probably drunk. It tore him up, the scar left deep inside of him hurt badly but he'll never feel anger. Why be mad when you can be vengeful? His father won't get away for what he did to him, Brian would make sure of that.   
  
"This cave is strangely quiet you know, what happened to all the pokemon? It looks almost......abandoned." inquired Liz.  
  
"Whatever happened, I'm sure its only temporary." reassured Brian, who was getting suspicious too..  
  
They walked further, continuing to notice that there were no pokemon.  
  
"This can't be happening! How could there be no pokemon here?"  
  
"Don't ask me why."  
  
Though there was no pokemon, their surrounding were pleasant. The cave, formed by an underground river, was thousands of years old. The history in the cave fascinated and delighted the two of them. Of course being from modern towns and cities, they were getting pretty bored. That was, until they noticed a shadow heading off the ceiling, and onto the floor. Liz screamed, Brian closed his eyes, when they calmed down, they found out that the shadow was just another trainer.  
  
:relieved: "Who or what are you?!" Demanded Liz.  
  
"My name is Chris and I'm a junior trainer like yourselves." Chris smiled, he always liked a little fun..  
  
"Well Chris, for scaring me like that, I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" Exclaimed Liz.  
  
"Fine babe, pokeball go!" replied Chris  
  
"Don't call me babe!" shouted a red hot Liz.  
  
"Ahem.......you kind of diss yourself." Brian informed Liz.  
  
"Oh SHUT UP all of you!!!" yelled Liz at both trainers.  
  
Liz and Chris toss their pokeballs out, the newly awakened opposing pokemon were ready for battle. Brian leaned against the wall, he watched with interest.   
  
"Char, char!"  
  
"Zu, Zuuubat!"  
  
Thinking for a moment, Liz thought about the best strategy to use. Chris however, took advantage of the order, he barked out an order for Zubat to fly to the ceiling, safe distance away from charmander's ember attacks.  
  
"Supersonic, then dive down to finish it with a bite!"  
  
"Charmander cover your ea-"  
  
Liz never finished her sentence, she was cut off by the high pitched squeal Zubat was making. Charmander didn't like the horrible sound but stood defiantly anyway.  
  
"Show him we mean business, ember attack it when it dives down."  
  
Embers began flying up as Zubat dived down. Charmander continued to flick its tail releasing more ember until one wave finally hit Zubat. The ember started small flames on Zubat began to grow. Liz knew that Zubat was one of the pokemon who were extremely flammable, something Chris only just realized.  
  
"Zubat, return!" Chris ordered disappointed.  
  
But the battle wasn't over yet, Chris held another pokeball.  
  
"Go raticate!"  
  
"Charmander let's go! Charmander?! ::shaking nervously:: Charmander..........are you okay?" Liz said shocked, something was wrong with her pokemon.  
  
The battle looked over for Liz, her pokemon stood still like a statue. Liz also noticed that Charmander's tail was glowing. Thinking the worst, she was about to recall charmander when it started to turn into pure energy. An idea surface in Liz's mind and she understood what was happening, her pokemon was evolving!  
  
"Char, char, char, charmeleon!" exclaimed the newly evolved pokemon.  
  
Liz jumped up and down in excitement! Her face became bright red, she scolded her self for not realizing it sooner.  
  
"HA! I have a CHARMELEON!!! Okay, charmeleon, let's get down to work and show these amateurs how real battles are fought!!!"  
  
Chris and Brian both made funny faces. Brian about to protest, but then stopped himself.  
  
"Charmeleon, how about.......flame-thrower attack now!"  
  
Flames burst out of Charmeleon's mouth engulfing raticate.   
  
"Take that you amateur!" shouted Liz.  
  
"Uh.........Liz would you mind calming down?" Pleaded Brian from the sidelines.  
  
"Hey, I'm the victor, I can say whatever I want! I win, you lose, SUCKER!!!"  
  
"Good battle!" Exclaimed Chris holding out his hand.  
  
"Yeah right, you stink!"  
  
Chris looked nervously at Brian, who shrugged in response. Liz was laughing hysterically, then did a victory dance with charmeleon.  
  
"Okay..........by the way, would you like buy a few item items from me? Asked Chris.  
  
"Items? ::Liz stopped her victory dance:: What do you have?"  
  
"Well, I have Tm12 which teaches water gun, a fairly good attack."  
  
Liz made a funny face, as she asked why would she need one, she had a fire pokemon. She rolled her eyes before picking up her backpack. Brian displayed more interest however.  
  
"I'd like to buy one! How much?" Exclaimed an excited Brian.  
  
"It only costs a hundred dollars."  
  
They made the exchange (Brian was sponsored by the pokemon league and received money weekly). Chris left the scene disappearing into the shadows before Liz or Brian could ask him about what happened to the local pokemon. Brian shrugged his shoulders again then called out his shellder.  
  
"I forget how to use these things." Brian stared inquisitively at Liz.  
  
"Oh its simple, just attack the TM to your pokedex and press the boot-up button." Liz informed her partner.  
  
Brain did exactly that and now his shellder knew water gun.  
  
"Finally, I have a water attack!" a relieved Brain happily thundered.  
  
------------------------  
  
They both headed deeper in the cave, reaching a large, very dim room.  
  
"Where are we?" Questioned Liz.  
  
Liz's voice echoed throughout the entire room, compared to them the room was gigantic. Brian noticed that everything was lit by an opening at the very top of the room.  
  
"We should be in the last room." Replied Brian.  
  
Suddenly, the room turned pitch black.  
  
"Charmeleon go! Use your tail to light up the room!"  
  
The pokemon lifted up his flaming tail filling the entire room with bright light. It took Brian and Liz a very second before their eyes focused on their surroundings.  
  
"Look at those cracks in the wall, they're filled with pokeballs." a shocked Liz exclaimed.  
  
In fact the room was covered with hundreds of cracks and each crack held one pokeball.  
  
Footsteps were heard, "Prepare to meet your doom!" Jem said as she appeared out of nowhere.  
  
Brian and Liz were frightened by this turn of events, they decided to make a run for it as soon as possible.  
  
"Go away! Why won't you leave us alone?" pleaded Liz.  
  
"Don't call me to go away little girl!" Jem walked up to them.  
  
"Looks whose talking Liz, I had no idea that Egyptian mummies from the Pewter museum could talk!"  
  
Liz and Brian both laughed their hearts out but were silence by Jem's shouts.  
  
"You foolish twerps, you don't know when you are about die do you?"  
  
"Ha? Are you going kill us with all those gas pokeballs?" sneered Liz  
  
"Who said anything about gas?" Asked Jem, she had a surprise instore for them.  
  
"Well what are they then..........plastic playthings for babies?" queried Brian  
  
Fuming, Jem raised her hand, her lips began to move.  
  
"By the power vested in me, atomic balls explode!!!"  
  
"WHAT?!" Brian and Liz both shouted in unison.  
  
The room began blowing up, explosion could be heard. Brian and Liz both head towards the exit but that was blocked by land slide.   
  
"You will kill us both!" Yelled Brian.  
  
"Heavens no, ::laughing:: suicide is a taboo in my family. ::taking out a pokeball:: Meet my new pokemon, daddy brought it for me. I was supposed to receive it tomorrow but daddy could never wait."  
  
Jem threw her new pokeball onto the ground.  
  
"Ekansssss!"  
  
"And did you know? Daddy taught this one dig!"  
  
Ekans hissed at Brian and Liz who took a step back.  
  
"Show those twerps your dig attack now. I want us out of here!" ordered Jem.  
  
The snake pokemon now dived up high until gravity forced it down again. At the moment it was forced down again, it aimed at the ground head first and dug a hole which was just big enough for Jem to drop down into.  
  
The cave ceiling was collapsing, large chunks were falling down to the floor.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Asked Brian.  
  
Liz didn't pay attention to Brian, she was focusing on a gap in the ceiling.  
  
"Charmeleon, return! Brian, we could fly on your Beedrill to safety!" suggested Liz thoughtfully..  
  
"Of course!"   
  
Brian release his Beedrill, it began to flap hard on its wings before Brian and Liz held on t a leg.  
  
"Beedrilllllll!"  
  
"Let's go Beedrill!"  
  
They flew high up through the gap, avoiding the pieces that were falling faster than ever before. Out of the cave, Beedrill set them down in a meadow right in front of Cerulean City. By that time, the entrance of the cave from Cerulean City had completely broken down.  
  
"Thank God we got out!" said an exhausted Liz.  
  
"I know one thing for sure, I won't be challenging Misty today, I need sleep, lots of sleep.." Brian said after he took a look at the local gym.  
  
"Forget about sleep, we have to tell officer Jenny"  
  
Heading towards the local police station, Brian asked Liz what she meant by amateur. Liz simply laughed.  
  
---------------------  
  
Jem had watched Brian and Liz's escape from a distance, she was about to go after them but was persuaded by Lafete that attacking so close to a town could get them caught.  
  
"I can't believe they escape! Another great folly by me.......!" a disappoint Jem muttered to herself.  
  
"You had no idea that the kid had a Beedrill, next time we'll get them." encourage Lafete.  
  
"I will not wait any longer, they will never do this to me again!"  
  
Lafete nodded in agreement with Jem who took a deep breath before they began to leave the scene, their path lighted by the dying light of the red sun..  
  
----------------------  
  
Dark, gloomy clouds cover the sun and made the air unusually silent as all seven gym leaders stepped forward. A strong gust of air disturbed the scene as Giovanni approached from the other side. Everyone was prepared for a major pokemon battle. On the other side, Giovanni with his several member of Team Rocket including the now famous Dr.. Lee. This was the final deciding battle for Mt. Moon, consequence for losing would be severe this time.  
  
"So, the gym leaders finally decide to do something, what a pity! After I defeat you all, you can go back to your gym and continue crying there!" Giovanni snickered.  
  
The gym leaders were enrage by his comment. Before the battle, they talked amongst themselves of who had the best pokemon to challenge Giovanni. Everyone agreed that Misty with her Starmie would be the best for the battle. She picked a up her pokeball, it burst when she threw it on the ground. Starmie, a psychic pokemon praise for its power and speed should stand a good chance again Giovanni, Misty thought to herself.  
  
"Giovanni! You have gone too far in taking over Mt. Moon! I challenge you to a battle, if you have the guts for it!" Misty bluntly replied.  
  
Giovanni chuckled, he accepted the challenge on the grounds of a one on one battle. If he won, Giovanni would be free to make Mt. Moon his base without any opposition from the Pokemon League. If he lost however, he must withdraw his forces from Mt. Moon. The stakes were high but Giovanni had just the right pokemon to do the job, Mewtwo.  
  
"Amateur little girls shouldn't play with the professional big boys!" Giovanni suggested to Misty as he threw out his own pokemon.  
  
"What?! Well if you want an amateur, why don't you look in a mirror? But I suppose you wouldn't be able to because the mirror would crack the moment you look at it! I'm sick of this conversation, Starmie make this a quick battle!" Misty replied.  
  
"Mewtwo, let show her the power that's inside, psyburn!"  
  
"Counter that with reflect Starmie, then use your bubble beam!"  
  
Searing heat engulfed Starmie burning the ground it was standing on to a crisp. Starmie was set on fire and had to be extinguished by a bucket of water from Koga. Refreshed now, the water pokemon, summoned its bubble beam blasting right at mewtwo. Unfortunately, the bubbles didn't even touch mewtwo because teleported away. Disappointed, Misty ordered tackle, the Starmie swing around and this time stuck mewtwo on the head.  
  
The jewel on Starmie still glittered even limited light it headed towards mewtwo for a second. This time, mewtwo evaded the attack by another teleportation. From the depths of its power mewtwo attack with a blast of psychic energy. Mewtwo's attack hit Starmie's gem causing it to crack. Misty knew her pokemon wouldn't last much longer.  
  
"Starmie get up and use rapid fire psychic!" Misty ordered vainly at the barely conscious pokemon.  
  
Twirling in the air, Starmie surprised everyone with its determination and blasted psychic energy in several directions. Mewtwo was hit several times but it could easily take the attacks. Misty covered her face in her hand in humiliation, she didn't like losing.   
  
"Mewtwo, recover!" Giovanni smiled to himself.  
  
The psychic pokemon began to glow, all bruises on it's body were gone. Misty fell to her knees, she had forgotten about mew two's recover and her Starmie was out of energy.  
  
"Finish it with a psychic!" Giovanni felt proud of himself, he was going to win.  
  
"Not so fast!!!" The rest of the gym leaders stepped for, they all threw out their pokemon.  
  
Misty returned her Starmie before hurrying out of the way.  
  
"Ha! The gym leaders are getting so desperate they're willing to cheat! Mewtwo, I want you to finish them all!"  
  
Dr.. Lee who was watching all this time now walked forward in support of his boss. Surge decided to take on the doctor while the other gym leaders would mass attack Giovanni. Calling his only pokemon raichu, Lt. Surge knew he would be facing tough opposition from the Doctor's hypno. Both trainers faced each other, Lt. Surge barked an order.  
  
"Raichu, thunderbolt that pokemon to where it came from!"  
  
"Hypno, reflect......." Dr.. Lee replied calmly.  
  
Raichu had been very well trained and unleashed a devastating lightning bolt. Hypno used its psychic abilities to create a barrier and reflect as much of the electricity as possible. Unfortunately for Lee, hypno was overwhelmed by the strong electrical attack. The barrier broke and hypno was devastated by the attack.  
  
"Hypno?! No matter, pokeball go!" Dr.. Lee voice now had a ring of nervousness in it.  
  
The pokeball opened and release a magneton. Surge looked around for the other trainers then realized that they were all battling Giovanni. ::screams:: Turning his head he saw that Mewtwo and reflected vileplume's pedal dance right back at Erica. He turned his head back knowing that he had to focus on Lee.  
  
"Raichu, mega kick it now!" barked once again, Surge.  
  
::screams:: Distracting by screams from his fellow gym leaders, Surge turned his head for a slit second only to see the other leaders covered in bloody cuts. Only two gym leaders were left standing, Brock and Sabrina. Onix was going underground while kadabra was attacking mewtwo repeatedly with psychic attack. Hoping for the best but knowing that if only two leaders were left lowered the chances of success to almost nil.  
  
"Oh no, you won't be as lucky this time! Magneton, sonic boom!" Dr. Lee yelled out at the top of his lungs.  
  
The sonic boom blasted raichu off its feet; the doctor had trained this one well. But raichu was equally well trained stood up on its feet again. Pushing forward with a mega kick, raichu knocked magneton unconscious to the ground. Lee had run out of pokemon and Surge was just about to order thunderwave to paralyze the doctor when a flash of light blinded him. It was a blast of psychic energy from mewtwo! Getting up, Surge saw to his horror that Raichu was unconscious. Surge's fear came true, he looked toward Giovanni and saw that mewtwo had obliterated the other gym leaders in the battle. Reaching in his pocket, surge took out a purple marble. He threw it hard on the ground producing a gas cover to flee for his life with. The only other gym leader who managed to escape was Misty. She had slipped away earlier when her Starmie fainted.  
  
"I can't believe you're gym leaders, your pokemon are all pathetic! Giovanni bellowed at his fleeing opponents..  
  
Surge and Misty both left the scene in shame, they had lost the battle. Of course all was not lost for they reminded themselves that they may had been defeated during the battle but the outcome of the war has yet to be decided.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Lee's lab was dimly lit, but Giovanni could see clearly the lab equipment was strewn recklessly. Shelves leaked strange mixtures that dripped slowly down to the floor. The computer was cracked open, inside the hard drive was missing. In the middle of the room, the operating table had a single suitcase on top. Opening the suitcase, Giovanni could clearly see that it was completely full. Clouds of confusion had dissipated, the sense of anger rage through Giovanni. iThe good doctor had decided to leave............/i  
  
"My office is closed.........come back next morning!" said a voice coming from the other room.  
  
It was Dr. Lee's voice! Giovanni squeezed his fist tightly, no one leaves Team Rocket........alive!  
  
:clenching teeth: "But doctor, I only want a few words with you...."  
  
:relied weakly: "Giovanni?! Uh.......now is not a good time."  
  
:shouts: "STUP UP YOU FOOL! iDo you really think you could abandon me?/i"  
  
The doctor rushed in the room, clenching a pokeball in his hand.  
  
:tries to speak evenly:"Boss, first let me tell you that I'm quitting Team Rocket and there is bnot/b a thing you can do about it!"  
  
:enraged: "My daughter needs your expertise, fix her now!"  
  
:speaks menacingly: "You no longer have the right to give me orders, Giovanni! I am fully aware of your daughter's situation, she is damaged from my last treatment!"  
  
:surprised: "Damaged?! :Giovanni stops to consider for a moment: You said the treatment was a success!"  
  
:stares coldly: "Well I lied, but you have to face the facts! There was no way your daughter could get through the last treatment undamaged!"  
  
Giovanni's body grew stif........very stiff. His eyes no longer looked human, instead they had the look of a murderous animal. He ripped off the single pokeball he had on his belt and slammed it on the ground. Bright white energy shaped the most powerful pokemon to ever exist.  
  
"Teach this btraitor/b a lesson!" ordered Giovanni.  
  
:throwing down his own pokeball: "Hypno, get us out of here!"  
  
Hypno, Lee's drowsee had evolve into an extremely powerful psychic pokemon. Its body was radiating with energy, release a glow. Giovanni released that doctor trained this pokemon well. With a single nod, hypno teleported Lee out of there but Giovanni was far from finished.  
  
"Mewtwo, follow him with your own teleport. I am the boss, I am the master, and he shall feel ,imy wrath/i!  
  
Sensing the direction which the hypno left, Mewtwo focussed his energy. In a second, Giovanni felt his pokemon's power wrapping around him and sending him to face his former employee.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
After a night's rest at the local pokecenter, Brian and Liz headed off to the gym.  
  
"What do you think this gym is like?" Questioned Liz.  
  
"The same as last time, pretty easy." Replied Brian.  
  
"Yeah, now that I think about it, Brock was really easy to beat. All we had were normal attack and we still managed to defeat him!"  
  
As they were near the entrance to the gym, ten trainer suddenly burst out. All the trainers had very badly beaten up pokemon and same were even crying.  
  
"Dear God!"  
  
"Did you see that? One of the those trainers had a Pikachu!"  
  
"I suddenly feel my chances of winning drop, all I have is a charmeleon!"  
  
"Oh, it gets much worst! Look over there, isn't that an ivysaur?"  
  
They looked around in horror as more trainer with badly injured pokemon came through the door.  
  
"So many badly injured pokemon, how could this have happened?"  
  
"Well......I'm not waiting to see more weak trainer run out of the gym!"  
  
Brian headed off towards into the gym, passing many crying trainers.  
  
"Remember that you can battle her as many times you want!" Said a man wearing a lab suit.  
  
"Who is that man?" Asked Liz.  
  
"He's an assistant, they are people who didn't get picked as a gym leader so they took up the job of assisting one."  
  
"What do they do?"  
  
"Mostly cleaning up garbage, keeping the floor clean, basically maintenance....."  
  
:looking around the room: "So where exactly is the gym leader?"  
  
"I believe she's through that doorway."  
  
They went out of the waiting room and into a gigantic swimming pool. It was very long but it was also pretty narrow. Everything was clearly lit with lights on the ceiling. Floating on the water, they saw many big, flat mats pulled by several goldeens.  
  
"Who's there?!" The voice boomed throughout the gym.  
  
Brian stepped forward, he held his Beedrill pokeball. I am Brian Thompson and I challenge the gym leader to match.  
  
:laughing: "A newbie!!! You'll soon learn the horror of water pokemon!"  
  
On of those pads floating on water soon arrived in front of him. Brian stepped on and it soon traveled to the middle of the pool. Liz was watching at the sides of the pool.  
  
"Where is the gym leader?" Brian pondered.  
  
"I'm here!" The voice seemed to come from all around them.  
  
An empty mat floating towards Brian, then Misty burst out of the water.  
  
"Hello, I'm your gym leader this evening, I suggest you prepare a few tissues for after the battle!" Said Misty.  
  
"I don't need any tissues, I can take you on!"  
  
:laughing: "Yes......that's what they all say, hahaahaaa!"  
  
Less confident than before Brian held up his pokeball. Misty had now climbed on to the mat and was standing up.  
  
"The rules of this gym are very simple. You know from Brock that you're only allowed four moves per pokemon. I don't follow that rule, you can use as many moves as you desire. Second thing is you can't receive any help from the outside! That includes trading pokemon to refresh your own. You can't borrow pokemon from other trainers to battle me, if you do I will refuse to battle. Even verbal communication is not allowed! This is a two on two battle, only two pokemon are allowed. Is that understood?"  
  
"Yes, I understand everything."  
  
"I'm very different from Brock you know! He was an easy gym leader, any grass or water pokemon could easily finish him. I on the other hand, am the crossroads, you can tell from your battle with me whether you can really be a pokemon trainer or if you should take another profession. Is this understood because I'm not repeating this for you when you battle me a second time!"  
  
"I do understand and I'm not battling you a second time!"  
  
"Oh and one more thing, I advise you to get to know your pokemon very closely. There are certain tricks that your pokemon knows which aren't part of league commissioned attacks. They are very helpful when dealing with the elite four. After all, you may be only allowed four attacks in the league but since some moves aren't recognized as attacks by the league, possibilities for attacks are endless. Okay.....shall we get started?"  
  
"Fine by me!"  
  
Brian threw down his pokeball at the same time Misty threw down hers.  
  
"Bee, Beedrill!"  
  
"Staryu!"  
  
"Fly as high as you can Beedrill! Then use twineedle to finish it off with one stroke!"  
  
"Staryu, water gun it down then attack while it splashes in the water!"  
  
Beedrill flapped its wings hard to get as close to the ceiling as possible. Staryu was actually standing on the water, it squirted a strong stream of water right at Beedrill. But it never hit Beedrill, instead it lost all pressure halfway up and vaporized.  
  
"Now dive down to use twineedle!"  
  
"Evade it by going under water!"  
  
Swooping down to attack, its stingers sliced the water instead of Staryu. Having lost its balance and Beedrill came crashing down into the water.  
  
"Come on Beedrill, get out of the water!"  
  
"Staryu use tackle and knock that bug down!"  
  
Just as Staryu was about to strike Beedrill, the bug pokemon leaped of the water swing its stingers wide. It hit Staryu right in the gem with a twineedle attack. Staryu landed back into the water, the jewel flashing.  
  
"You call that a challenge?! That was easy! Can't you do better?" Questioned Brian with a smirk.  
  
:enraged: "Nothing, all that was nothing! You want better? Then let's see how you handle Starmie!"  
  
Once again, Misty dropped her pokeball in the water. On impact the energy materialized into the water/psychic pokemon Starmie.  
  
"Starrrr, Starmie!"  
  
"We can take it! Beedrill, let's do the same to this pokemon. Twineedle attack now!"  
  
"Starmie, show Brian over there your bubblebeam!" Misty's eyes twinkled with delight.  
  
Beedrill, swooped down to attack but starmie was ready. Hundreds of bubbles blinded beedrill, confusing it so much that it landed hard in the water. Brian took step back, he had no idea of how he could compete with such a powerful attack..  
  
"Wasn't as easy as the first one, right?" Misty said smugly.  
  
"Well......uh.......you caught me off guard!" quickly replied a humiliated Brian.  
  
"Beedrill, return! Shellder, do your best!" Brian didn't sound very confident.  
  
It was water against water, Shellder against Misty's powerful starmie.   
  
"Shellder, tackle it now!"  
  
"Starmie, perhaps you could show Mr. Thompson your water attack again?"  
  
Another blast of bubbles headed towards shellder. Brian's worst fear now was for the same thing that happened with beedrill happen with shellder.  
  
"Shellder....uhhhh......dive under water!" Brian blurted the words out of his mouth.  
  
Though never ordered such an attack before, Shellder dived in the water just in time before it was bombarded with the bubbles.   
  
"Starmie, don't just stand there, dive along with him" Misty smiled, she was planning something.  
  
"But.......how are you going to control your pokemon when its underwater?" Brian didn't understand why Misty would give such a strange order.  
  
"Life is all about learning Brian, and learning to communicate is essential!"  
  
Misty dived underwater, following her pokemon. Brian being very puzzled looked at Liz, she shrugged in reply. Deciding to not waste anymore time and he jumped in the water after his own pokemon. He felt water covering his body, it turned out to be very cool and refreshing. But enjoying his swim wasn't what he was here for, he needed to find his pokemon. Though the pool was large, Brian could hear the vibrations of his shellder and swam to the left of it. Shellder seem overjoyed to see his trainer again but started moving right for some reason. Wondering what he was doing, Brian tried to follow shellder but the pokemon gave off a shrill in opposition. Everything seemed so strange, Brian didn't understand what was happening.....until he saw a spec in the distance heading at a high speed towards him.  
  
Starmie! It was now apparent that starmie was tackling underwater! Brian struggled to move out of the way. The starfish raced pass him, missing his shellder. Of course he didn't feel any better because unless his could figure out how to order shellder underwater, he was in trouble.........  
  
Quickly clearing his head, Brian needed to know desperately how Misty was controlling her Starmie. Speak of the devil, Misty came into view! Something strange was about the way she moved however. Then Brian realized that she was doing some strange movements with her hand. Grinning, he knew her secret! She was controlling starmie using those hand signals!  
  
Starmie started attacking again with another tackle. He could see starmie was coming nearer and nearer, increasing speed as it moved along. He moved away from Starmie path to avoid the attack but his shellder wasn't so lucky. Starmie struck shellder forcing it to flip flop in the water. Seeing the damaged caused by starmie, Brian knew he needed a plan fast!  
  
He realized that it would be difficult to even try to communicate without any practice but it was a desperate time. Also, he was running out of air, so knocking on shellder's shell to get its attention, he worked as quickly as possible. Thinking for a second, he first pointed at shellder, then he punched his fist on his palm. Brian pointed his finger at the direction starmie headed to before running out of air and swimming to the surface.   
  
Brian gasped for air at the surface before diving down again. Shellder seemed to understand his ordered and was replying with a nod. Praying that shellder understood what he meant Brian waited for the result. To his dismay however, shellder turned his back. Hanging his head in shame, Brian didn't noticed was that shellder was sucking in water.  
  
Misty appeared with starmie on her shoulder and a smile on her face. Going crazy with the stress, Brian responded by pointing at Misty, urging shellder to attack now. Of course shellder seem to not be even noticing Brian's orders. Brian looked back in horror at Misty who laugh uncontrollably.  
  
The situation hopeless, that he was about to surrender when a sound caught his ear. A burst of water from its mouth and shellder was speeding through the water. It hit starmie right off Misty's shoulder, knocking the starfish into the depths of the pool. Misty was shocked, she headed to retrieve starmie. Brian was happy but he was also out of air so he headed back to the surface.  
  
Giving Liz the thumbs up, he climbed back onto his mat. He was about to recall his pokemon when Misty burst out of the water, she had a very distinctive look of anger.  
  
"Starmie, bubblebeam your opponent into the hell it belongs to!!!"  
  
Before Brian could respond, he saw the water were shellder was at bubble then burst into bubbles. Shellder was tossed in the air from starmie's underwater bubblebeam.  
  
"Withdraw!" Brian shouted.  
  
Shellder shut its shell before slamming back into the water. Misty narrowed her eyes at Brian before diving into the pool again. Brian sighed, then grumbled dived into the water, shellder following him. He swam in front of where Misty was, very tired.  
  
He saw Misty flicking her hand and he wonder what she was trying to order starmie to do. An idea popped up in his head, another bubblebeam was coming! He looked at shellder, he tried to think of what to do, then something came to him.  
  
Glancing at his pokedex, he confirmed it, shellder was at a high enough level to know supersonic. He tried to say it by mouth but none of his words were understandable. Remembering that he was underwater, he decided to try ordering shellder the attack.   
  
He tried to command shellder to use supersonic by connecting his thumb with his index finger together to form a circle for both hands. Then he place both hand one in front of each other to stimulate some kind of sound wave action. He stimulated movement by constantly changing the position of his first and second hands. Shellder only looked at him funny.  
  
Starmie aimed at Brian and his shellder, panicking, Brian took one more chance by doing the same thing with only one hand but the other was placed flat. He had his one hand shaped as a circle hitting his other hand which was flat. Shellder eyes sparked in understanding, Brian was less optimistic and once again started praying.  
  
A sound rumbled out of starmie as thousands of bubbles threatened them. Closing his eyes, Brian expected to be hit any moment but the attack never came. Instead of an attack, his eyes began to ring with a high pitch screech. Opening his eyes, Brian saw that Shellder supersonic was bursing the bubbles. Sound wave shot forth, attacking Misty and Starmie. Overwhelmed by the extreme noise, starmie lost balance and fell down. Misty followed her pokemon down to the depths of the ocean again. Tired and gasping for air Brain pointed up, towards the surface. Arriving on the surface, they were greeted the sound of applauds from Liz.  
  
Misty came up a few seconds later, holding a fainted starmie in her hands. She looked very angry at being beaten but then she sighed. Hestately, she swam towards the side of the pool, followed by Brian. Shellder reached the very edge of the pool but was unable to get out so Brian recalled him. Misty who was already out of the pool, kneeled down searching her gym bag.  
  
The cascade badge shined, just like the rock one he got in Pewter City.  
  
"Get out of here now, please!" Requested Misty who now also looked tired.   
  
Liz came over to hug Brian.  
  
"It must have taken a lot out of you."  
  
"I don't want to talk about it, I just want to go back to the pokecenter to sleep!"  
  
------------------------------  
  
That night Brian was deep in sleep while Liz was sitting on a chair unable to go to sleep. She worried about the battle she will face the next day. Brian barely survived with two very well trained pokemon with no weaknesses to water. She on the other hand had one pokemon who defense wise and attack wise, would die in a second with one bubblebeam. Looking out of the window, she saw a shooting star and began wishing.................  
  
-------------------------------  
  
What [i]evil[/i] lurks in the heart of imen/i? Of course if you ask this question to anyone you know, they'll just roll their eyes at you and call you an idiot..... But seeing is believing as is the building which Lee entered via teleportation. The building itself was near ruin, mostly from a major offensive from the Elite Four. Hidden in the forest it stood as a reminder of one of Giovanni's greatest loses.  
  
"Hypno, it will take some time before Giovanni's mewtwo find us. Before then, we need to prepare ourselves........as much as possible, itime is limited./i"  
  
"Hypnnnno!" Lee's pokemon replied in agreement.  
  
The air was damp and because of that it was cold, very cold. Lee knew this place very well, he started off here, as a guard. Thick metal chains lie untouched for half a decade on the floor, blood stains dyed the walls crimson red. Nothing changed in this ancient building, even as he touched a wall, he could hear ever so slightly, the screams of the tortured. i This was a death camp......../i  
  
There are differences here of course between the ones in Germany and this one in Japan. After all, Giovanni didn't like the term dictator or God, he preferred bboss/b. You see, Giovanni wouldn't kill someone who defies him quickly, his nature dictates that he feeds off the pain of those who stand up against him. That pain comes from rusty knives, that were used to cut off fingers one segment per day. Of course that was just for those who Giovanni decide to go easy on, knives usually infect the person after one night killing them quickly.  
  
:pointing at the upper balcony: "Hyp, hyppp, hypnooo!"  
  
"Yes, I see what you mean hypno, the upper balcony would be perfect to launch an attack!"  
  
:nodding: "Hyp!"  
  
Those less fortunate were made to hang by the chains while being whipped by Giovanni's minions. Unlike the others, they took a week to die in terrible agony. Lee remember how most of their faces were twisted in pain when they reached the point of death. But Giovanni's rage only went towards specific people like those from the League that were caught as spies in his headquarters. Or for those people who refuse to commit themselves under his rule. For the majority, their pokemon were simply stolen without any harm to them. Giovanni was cruel but only if you enrage him to a certain point................like how he was doing now.  
  
----------------------  
  
"Why are we stopping here!?" demanded Giovanni, in his cold emotionless voice.  
  
  
He had been teleported by mewtwo into the French Gardens, one of most beautiful and expensive gardens in Japan. Of course it was only open to Team Rocket members during what little free time Giovanni allotted to them. But still, even a few minutes could seem like days in the peaceful garden.  
  
"Well.....?"  
  
Mewtwo reached to his neck and unlatched the helmet covering his head. Giovanni insisted that for him to be truly powerful, he must focus all energy into battle. Which means everything else must be done without the helmet, including talking.  
  
"Giovanni, I need to rest! Do not worry......sooner or later, I'll get them." replied mewtwo telepathically.  
  
"But this will give them time to escape!"  
  
"Impossible, they have no where to go! Tomorrow when I am recovered, then we will hunt them down....."  
  
"You better, ior else /i....." threatened Giovanni  
  
:annoyed: "Remember that we are partners!"  
  
"Uh......of course we are! But you know how essential finding him is, right?"  
  
"Yes Giovanni...... :thinking to himself: Essential only to quench your thirst for revenge!"  
  
They sky blackened as Giovanni removed his cellular phone from his pocket. He dialed for helicopter from the base then sat on a bench. Gray hairs showed through his black hair, a warning that he was aging. When he was younger, he thought that to be the leader of Team Rocket would be enough to satisfy him. Those were foolish thoughts reflecting his youth at that time. Now he knows that man is a beast, who hungers for absolute power and will do anything to be satisfied........ 


End file.
